Friday, October 31, 2014

Scriptura
is an independent journal which publishes contributions in
the fields of Bible, Religion and Theology refereed by
peers. It is international in scope but special attention
is given to topics and issues emerging from or relevant to
Southern Africa. Scriptura publishes contributions in
English but also in other languages relevant to the Southern African
region (such as Afrikaans, Xhosa, Sesotho, Zulu, French and
German).

Articles derive from a conference of the Theological Society of South Africa - "Whither does the Wind blow? South African reflection on the relationship between the Holy Spirit and Christ" - at the University of the Western Cape, June 2001

INSTRUMENTUM a également organisé, financé ou
co-organisé des dizianes de manifestations scientifiques, dans plusieurs
pays européens, sur des thèmes proposés par ses membres.INSTRUMENTUM is a working-group that comprises scholars
interested in the crafts and industries
of ancient Europe and the Mediterranean.
The chronological scope of the organization
covers the European Iron Age and the eras
of Greek and Roman civilization, with some
overlap into the late Bronze Age and the
early Middle Ages.

The
aim of INSTRUMENTUM is to bring together research
on crafts and industries by drawing attention to
published work, thus elucidating the conditions
in which crafts, industries, and manufacturing techniques
evolved before the Middle Ages. Twice a year INSTRUMENTUM
issuesthe Bulletin, which disseminates
information, encourages research, and facilitates
international communication. An up-to-date bibliography,
brief notices on current research, and requests
for information also are included in an attempt
to promote and facilitate research on objects, their
use, and manufacture. Since June 1997 INSTRUMENTUM
has published 35 monographs on ancient crafts and
industries (Editions Monique Mergoil), with several
more in preparation.

INSTRUMENTUM
also has organized and supported dozens of scientific
meetings in various countries on topics proposed
by members.

What is an artefact ? Specialists still discuss the matter. After
numismatics, of which the field (coinage) is well defined, ceramology
was the first to reach the status of a speciality. But does ceramology
deal with a material (terracotta) of with what is done with it ? Several
artefacts are actually made of terracotta, and using the material is
probably not the best way to sort data between what regards 'ceramology'
and what could be given to a new speciality, 'artefacts stydy'. During
the last years, 'functional sorting' imposed itself as the most useful
criterium : creamology can study all the vessels, either for preparing,
serving or storing goods, while 'artefacts study' deals with the rest.

A vast category, therefore, and various, touching nearly any domain of
human activity. To attempt ordering this huge chaos, Artefacts makes use
of a 3-level hierarchy, on which chronology is added. Every objectr is
attributed to a function, and any functrion enters a domain. For ex., a
dice (code DEJ) belongs to the 'game & counting' function, which is
part of the 'socio-cultural' domain. The aim of this system is to
identify the primary function of artefacts, for which they were
produced, not their eventual re-use in a secondary context (such as
religious, or funerary).

The main ambition of Artefacts is typological, but some types exist
under (nearly) the same form under variuous epochs. A cubic solid bone
dice, for example, will be found under DEJ-3, DEJ-4 or DEJ-9 according
to its date, Etruscan, Roman or Medieval.When the code of a certain
object type is available (DEJ-, in the above example), it is therefore
interesting to serach it under othet periods, to evaluate the evolution
of this form through the course of time.

One of the key problems in archaeology is trying to accurately
locate things like trenches, walls, and artifacts in 3D space.
Traditionally, archaeologists describe their finds, manually take
measurements, and use hand-drawn sketches and occasional photographs to
record the contexts of artifacts, strata, and architectural features.
This methodology suffers from inaccuracy, inconsistent terminology,
transcription errors, and just taking too long. Some things are not
recorded at all because their significance is not recognized until too
late.

Other issues for fieldteams include noting what was found, who
found it, what are the find’s characteristics, figuring out how all
this data should be organized, and how other researchers can assimilate
all this information. Understanding the meaning, context, and
function of an object evolves over time as it is examined and
categorized, which often involves multiple specialists each of whom may
submit data in different formats. The standard collocation methods
don't effectively allow hypothesis testing on all the excavated data in
real time; nor allow for planning field strategies while the dig is
underway. Normally, we have to wait until all evidence has been
collected, analyzed, and synthesized--that often takes years and is
unfair to our colleagues.

Has the transition to digital acquisition technologies
improved the situation? We now have the choice of laser scans, LIDAR,
digital photography, databases, CAD, GIS, GPS, total stations, and even
smartphones with high-res cameras and custom apps that can be tailored
for use during excavations.

Putting Technology to Work

Using total stations and related equipment to survey a site is
time consuming and expensive, only those points that were considered
important at the time are recorded, and the points are hard to collate
with the rest of the datasets from the site. GIS is superlative for 2D
spatial data, but not so useful as a general purpose data exploration
tool, and generally has poor integration with interactive 3D
visualizations. Harris Matrix tools focus on displaying stratigraphic
sequences, with little integration with other datatypes. Custom
site-specific databases are uneven in the comprehensiveness of their
features and cannot be easily generalized to other excavations.

What site directors really need is a single complete package
that keeps things digital from acquisition to publication, integrates
all data types, and can be used across different excavations with
minimal modification. The goal would be to ease recording and recall
for researchers of all backgrounds.

India is perhaps one of the largest repositories of tangible heritage in
the world. A major part of this heritage is preserved in her monuments,
sites and antiquities of varied nature. The range of such relics, from
the past is indeed very vast and covers a long span of time i.e.
prehistoric to colonial times. The monuments, sites and antiquities
protected and maintained so far by Archaeological Survey of India and
State Archaeology Departments are only a fraction of the total
repository of the country. However, most of these have not been
documented in a uniform format which can provide a common platform to
the scholars, researchers and planners for reference, research and its
management in a diligent manner.

Today, the survival of our heritage has been endangered due
to climatic, natural and manmade effects. In the recent years there is
also an increasing trend of illicit trafficking of antiquities from
India. This is mainly due to lack of public awareness, ignorance of
law/act and also about the importance of documentation and preservation.
There are few cities in the country where number of important monuments
and heritage buildings has been listed from time to time by different
institutions and organizations but there is no comprehensive database at
one place. Therefore, a proper documentation is felt desideratum to
build a credible National database in a uniform format.

To address these issues, National Mission on Monuments
and Antiquities (NMMA) has been set up by Government of India with the
objective to document unprotected monuments and sites from both
secondary sources and antiquities from primary source in a prescribed
format. There are various available sources for documenting this
heritage which needs to be utilized and collated through a Mission
approach to create a credible National data base. This will take shape
of State wise as well as National register of unprotected monuments,
sites and antiquities.

Likewise, the existing data on antiquities are also
available in different format in the form of Registered Antiquities,
Catalogued antiquities with central and different formats adopted by
different organizations; it is difficult to bring this data base under
one umbrella. In this process, National Mission on Monuments and
Antiquities has prepared two uniform formats each for documentation of
Monuments, Sites and Antiquities and is actively involved in creating
the National data base.

NMMA welcomes suggestions and contributions for the
preparation of National register on Monuments, sites and antiquities.

The National Portal and Digital Repository for Indian Museums are
developed and hosted by Human-Centred Design & Computing Group,
C-DAC, Pune as per the agreement with Ministry of Culture, Government of
India. HCDC Group has also developed JATAN: Virtual Museum software
which is used for creating the digital collections in various museums
and digital archival tools that are used in background for managing the
national digital repository of museums.

Presently as a part of the digitization efforts of the Ministry of
Culture, Government of India the digitized collections of 10 selected
Museums, as given below, are placed in the digital repository for Indian
Museums and also on the National Portal developed by C-DAC, Pune in
consultation with the Ministry of Culture along with technical help from
the Art Institute of Chicago
in the first phase. Subsequently, it will be our endeavour to make
available the digitized collections of the remaining museums under the
Ministry of Culture/Archaeological Survey of India also on the National
Portal.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

This eJournal distributes working and accepted paper abstracts having a primary focus on Greek
and Roman texts from antiquity to the present. Additional subcategories and/or subdivisions of
them will be added as appropriate.

This eJournal distributes working and accepted paper abstracts having a primary focus on the morphology,
grammar and syntax of Greek and Latin and will appear in the Greek of Latin subcategory as
appropriate. Work that compares the two to each other or which discusses them in a general
context will appear in the General subcategory. There are specific subcategories for Minoan
and Mycenaean texts and for Metrics. Additional subcategories and/or subdivisions of them
will be added as appropriate.

The primary focus of the project is notice and comment on open access material relating to the ancient world, but I will also include other kinds of networked information as it comes available.

The ancient world is conceived here as it is at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, my academic home at the time AWOL was launched. That is, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pacific, from the beginnings of human habitation to the late antique / early Islamic period.

AWOL is the successor to Abzu, a guide to networked open access data relevant to the study and public presentation of the Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean world, founded at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago in 1994. Together they represent the longest sustained effort to map the development of open digital scholarship in any discipline.